Land Economy Personal Statement Guide

The personal statement is your main chance to show admissions tutors what makes you unique as an applicant, as well as demonstrating the work you have done both inside and outside of school to prepare yourself for land economy at university.

Since most applicants are writing this kind of statement for the first time, our experts have put together this guide to give you our top tips on nailing the statement to the best of your abilities.

• Why are Personal Statements Important?
• What Should I Include in a Land Economy Personal Statement? 
• What Should I Avoid in a Land Economy Personal Statement? 
• Advice on How to Start a Land Economy Personal Statement 
• Advice on How to Finish a Land Economy Personal Statement 
• FAQs 

Why are Personal Statements Important? 

A personal statement is a short piece of writing about yourself that you send to universities along with your grades and reference as part of your UCAS application. You only write one and this is sent to all of your chosen universities, so it is important that it is not too specifically aimed at a particular course or university. You must also meet the requirements for personal statement length: the whole personal statement must fit within either 4,000 characters or 47 lines in the UCAS form (whichever limit you reach first). You can make it shorter if you wish, but generally students find they need the whole space available to give a full account of their experiences and motivations.

The personal statement is one of the most important parts of the application process as it is a chance for Admissions Tutors to hear from you in your own words. This gives them a chance to get a sense of who you are as a person (both intellectually and personally), what drives you, and crucially, how you might contribute as a potential Land Economy student at their university. These are all important factors that are not covered elsewhere in your application and particularly valuable because the rest of your UCAS form is likely to be fairly similar to other students’ who are studying similar subjects and are at a similar level of ability. Your Land Economy personal statement will be unique to you and help you to stand out amongst other applicants.

For a Land Economy personal statement, there are certain skills and qualities that you must demonstrate. It is a unique degree that combines law and economics with aspects of the environment, business, finance, and resource management. While candidates are neither required nor expected to have studied any of these subjects at school, you should be able to demonstrate your interest in the subject and that you have the aptitude for studying it at a high level.

A successful personal statement for Land Economy will demonstrate that you are intellectually curious and capable of motivating yourself to take on hard challenges. It will also show that you have actively developed your skills of rigorous analysis both in your schoolwork and outside, and it will show that you have the appetite to engage with new perspectives on different issues. It will also be unique to you. This can seem daunting at first, but with the right support and preparation, writing your personal statement can be an enjoyable experience and a chance to create something to be proud of.

What Should I Include in a Land Economy Personal Statement? 

A successful Land Economy personal statement must demonstrate your motivation for studying this unusual combination of subjects at an undergraduate level. Admissions tutors will be looking for ways that you have shown you have the potential to succeed in this challenging and rigorous subject that you may not have studied before. There are many different ways you can show your interest and skills, including relevant work or academic achievements and your own independent learning outside of school. Land Economy focuses on law, economics, and their relationship to the built and natural environments. These subjects are not only academic but affect the daily lives of people around the world. Your personal statement should demonstrate that you are keen to get to the heart of some of society’s biggest challenges by learning across these disciplines. There is also the chance to explore other fascinating areas including business regulation, the financial aspects of real estate and international development. There is great diversity in the academic backgrounds of Land Economy students across both the arts and the sciences so there is no requirement for any particular subject, so your personal statement is your chance to show you have the skills in critical thinking required, and a determination to succeed.

Passion for Studying Land Economy

It can be tempting to simply state that you are passionate about studying Land Economy, or that you have “always” wanted to study Land Economy and think that this will show you have a long-standing passion for the subject. However, while this may well be absolutely true, you need to actually describe and demonstrate this in a way that is specific and personal to you. It can be helpful to ask yourself some questions about your learning journey so far. When did you first decide you wanted to explore this subject further? What specifically are you hungry to learn more about? Where do you see this subject having the biggest impact? Why do you want to study Land Economy and not some other related subject like Law, Geography, or Economics? Of course, as this is personal to you there are many ways to approach the question and no particular answer is right or wrong. However, it is important to make sure that what you are saying is true to you, and not just something that you have read or heard someone else saying (even if you agree with it). It is also a good idea to push yourself to go a little deeper with each draft. Add detail and insights from things you have read and ideas that have resonated with you or challenged your thinking. This way your personal statement will avoid reading as generic, shallow, or bland, all of which you want to avoid!

Academic Achievements and Experiences

This section is critical as a successful application any Oxbridge degree is based primarily on your academic achievement and potential. It can be a mixture of formal and informal achievements such as essay competitions you have taken part in, or reading that you have completed that has challenged you to go beyond your school courses. Land Economy offers various routes to explore interests through books, articles, documentaries, films, and news reporting. However, while it can be tempting to list every interesting item you have found, it is important to reflect on it, show how you engaged with it and used it to go deeper into an area of interest. Admissions tutors are looking for your potential as a future student so skills such as independent thinking, enjoyment of research, an ability to understand and construct complex arguments, and an appetite for thinking deeply and carefully are all highly valued. You can develop these skills across a range of different subjects (including both humanities and sciences) and also in extra-curricular activities, but it is important to remember to emphasise the connection to studying Land Economy. When the admissions tutor looks over your application, they will specifically be looking for intellectual curiosity, independent motivation, and critical thinking skills, which you can demonstrate in your reading or work experience such as attending court or relevant work experience.

Specific Interests and Evidence of Reading

This section is very important as it is a chance to demonstrate that you have the independent motivation to study Land Economy, a subject you will not have studied before, at undergraduate level. It is a good idea to start with making a list of books or articles that you have read and found fascinating, and also any subjects that have interested you in that you might have explored in essay competitions or independent research. After your initial brainstorm, you will see some themes or common threads start to emerge so then you can demonstrate that you have taken a question and gone deeper with it, pursuing it across different sources. This is more effective in demonstrating your curiosity and tenacity than just listing lots of different books you have read.

What Should I Avoid in a Land Economy Personal Statement? 

Common mistakes that students make include being overly influenced by other personal statements they have read so that they are not using their authentic voice and experiences; being too generic; and including too much irrelevant information at the expense of more in-depth discussion of the subject.

Every sentence in your personal statement should serve a purpose, and be original and unique to you. Any achievements or experiences you mention should be linked to your motivation or potential to study Land Economy. Admissions tutors are specifically looking for which students are a good fit for this unique course, so do not waste any opportunity to show why they should select you.

Advice on How to Start a Land Economy Personal Statement  

Every successful Land Economy personal statement is different. This is an opportunity to be creative and personal. Land Economy offers multiple angles to begin your personal statement from, including world events, your own experiences, and academic research in Law, Economics, or Environmental Science.

The opening matters because it both captures the reader’s attention and directs and organises the rest of the personal statement. However, it can be daunting to get started before you know what you are going to say, so it can be helpful to leave the opening to the end and write it after you have identified the key themes of your personal statement.

Advice on How to Finish a Land Economy Personal Statement  

The closing paragraph should tie together the ideas discussed in the rest of the personal statement and leave the reader with a strong impression of who you are as a potential student and what motivates you. Ideally, they will be keen to meet you at interview. For a prospective Land Economy student, being able to take complex ideas and summarise them effectively is a valuable skill so don’t rush or neglect this section.

FAQs